1st Edition
Advances in Groundwater Governance
This book addresses groundwater governance, a subject internationally recognized as crucial and topical for enhancing and safeguarding the benefits of groundwater and groundwater-dependent ecosystems to humanity, while ensuring water and food security under global change.
The multiple and complex dimensions of groundwater governance are captured in 28 chapters, written by a team of leading experts from different parts of the world and with a variety of relevant professional backgrounds. The book aims to describe the state-of-the-art and latest developments regarding each of the themes addressed, paying attention to the wide variation of conditions observed around the globe.
The book consists of four parts. The first part sets the stage by defining groundwater governance, exploring its emergence and evolution, framing it through a socio-ecological lens and describing groundwater policy and planning approaches. The second part discusses selected key aspects of groundwater governance. The third part zooms in on the increasingly important linkages between groundwater and other resources or sectors, and between local groundwater systems and phenomena or actions at the international or even global level. The fourth part, finally, presents a number of interesting case studies that illustrate contemporary practice in groundwater governance.
In one volume, this highly accessible text not only familiarizes water professionals, decision-makers and local stakeholders with groundwater governance, but also provides them with ideas and inspiration for improving groundwater governance in their own environment.
Biography
Karen G. Villholth has more than 25 years of experience in groundwater resources assessment and management. She deals with research, policy advice, and capacity development related to groundwater irrigation for smallholders, transboundary aquifers, groundwater resources assessment and modelling, climate change and groundwater, adaptation through underground solutions, role of depleting aquifers in global food production, groundwater and eco-system services, and groundwater management and governance for institutions at various levels, from local to global. She engages with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders in co-developing tools, approaches, and policies to a more sustainable use of groundwater for livelihoods, food security, and environmental integrity. Karen is a Principal Researcher and a Research Group Leader at IWMI, International Water Management Institute at the Southern Africa regional office. She is leading the global IWMI-led partnership initiative on Groundwater Solutions for Policy and Practice (GRIPP). Karen holds a PhD in Groundwater Assessment and a MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and a MSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington. She previously worked for DHI-Water and Environment and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. She is co-author of three books related to groundwater and more than 50 peer-reviewed journal papers.
Elena López Gunn is the Founder and Director of ICATALIST and a Cheney Fellow at University of Leeds in the United Kingdom. Elena finished her PhD at King's College, London. She also holds a Masters from the University of Cambridge. She was an Associate Professor at IE Business school and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the London School of Economics as Alcoa Research Fellow. Professionally, Elena has collaborated with a number of organizations including UNESCO, FAO
